"Spock . . ." Bones started.

"Yes, Doctor McCoy?" Spock said.

They were stuck in a cell, this was in 2258, on another planet.

"I have a secret." Bones said.

"Everyone has a secret." Spock replied.

"Mine threatens humanity." Bones said.

The Vulcan raised a eyebrow.

"Is that a joke?" Spock asked.

"It depends . . . You know what," Bones shook his hand. "Forget it." The Vulcan lowered his eyebrow. "But I want you to do something for me."

"And what is that?" Spock asked.

"One of these days I am going to die on a mission," Bones said. "And it will break the kids heart. He is going to need some one to look after him. To look after Jim." He looked up toward Spock. "I can trust that Vulcans are good at being parental figures . . . am I right?"

"That is effectively correct," Spock said. "There is an ancient legend of a being from Mars who was extremely ape-like being raised by a being resembling a Vulcan just without the many qualities that made them distinctive. They were dog like and had pointy ears. They walked on two feet though sometimes on all fours. They were called the An'Czar which primary stood up on all fours. The An'Czar evolved into Azchirl Fmpolid'Kt which thousands of years later evolved into Homo Eradini."

"That is a interesting history lesson." Bones said, sarcastically.

"I have been waiting three months, twenty-three days, two hours, and thirty-six minutes to give you a accurate history lesson regarding my race," Spock said. "We did not sprout from lizards."

"And what about the Martian?" Bones said.

Spock shrugged.

"One day . . . An object from the sky took them and they were never seen again." Spock said.

Bones glared at Spock.

"Can you reassure me that you will be there for Jim after I die?" Bones asked.

"Logically, I will be," Spock said. "There is a seventy-nine point eight-nine percent chance that you will die on these missions."

"Spock." Bones said.

"Under the circumstances, I will be there." Spock said.

Bones knew this was as far as he was going to get with the Vulcan.

"That is a relief." Bones said, with a sigh.

Spock raised a eyebrow.

"And if I were not there?" Spock asked.

"I don't want to think about that." Bones said.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

. . . 2259. . .

"All seventy-two?" Khan asked.

"All seventy-two." Spock replied.

Khan's eyes looked over to a screen then he smiled.

"Fantastic." Khan said.

"Spock out." Spock said.

And the missiles detonated inside the Vengeance. The much larger ship shook from across the Enterprise. Now then since we have seen the event that instigates another event into another,the view flew down into Med Bay. Bones seemed to be relatively calm. More calm than Jim had seen him in the five years he had known the CMO. Bones was sitting down in the chair in front of his desk when a exasperated Jim came in along with a young woman being towed into the room by a Nurse and Scotty.

"What has Spock done?" Jim asked.

"Nothing." Bones said.

"What?" Jim asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Bones repeated.

"But the torpedoes!" Jim said.

"Spock's cold, not that cold," Bones patted on the metal part to a chronostasis tube. "They are still here." Jim's eyes drifted to the room that was part of sick bay that had closed stasis pods. The look on Jim's face turned from horror to delight. "All seventy-two."

Jim turned his head over toward Bones.

"That is sneaky--" JIM stopped as there was a blinding light coming from Bones. "Bones!"

The ship was struck and Bones was beamed off the ship. Bones landed on the ground somewhere. Wait, in a medical observation room. He felt ready to puke. Damn it. The process of beaming beamed reminded Bones too much of the ark. Bones managed to get up only to puke. He still wasn't used to being beamed unexpectedly. It reminded him too much of a darker time in his life. Two hundred years. He could remember the white coat with the label 'Steve' that had been tattered and had some blood on it. He could remember his gun's flashlight losing power in the sewer.

Bones stepped back to see a figure headed his way.

"It is time they learn the truth about their dear friend Leonard McCoy." Khan raised the phaser up and shot it.

Bones ducked, swiftly,only getting a hole in the shoulder part of his uniform.

"You don't want that to happen!" Bones said, hiding behind some boxes. "I saw what it does."

"The truth is bound to come out somehow one of these days," Khan fired again vaporizing a box and Bones got out of the way. "Can't you just standstill?"

Bones narrowed his eyes toward Khan.

"I will not allow you to endanger the human race." Bones said.

"The human race already endangers itself, Reaper." Khan said.

"That is not my nickname." Bones said.

"The first nickname you ever had," Khan said. "Don't worry about your prized friends. I have sent them crashing down toward Earth." Khan stepped forward. "All those you knew. Dead. Weren't you there for your sisters funeral? There is something wrong about outliving your siblings," He stepped forward. Bones knew he was cornered. "While this ship is aimlessly failing, I decided . . . why not crash this mess on Mars?" Bones's face became pale. "You know Lucy is still there. Her bones protecting her child. I was there. I was also a survivor too. A whole squad, really, sent to gather some bones from the facility. I couldn't get to the bones as of some titanium protective barriers. I was the only one beamed up to the ship. Every man and woman dead."

"Give me that phaser and let me end your psychotic and sociopath tendencies." Bones said.

"You are that willing to end another life?" Khan asked.

"To save the lives of many, why yes." Bones said.

"Too bad," Khan said, aiming the phaser at Bones. "Sadly, you are so superhuman, you spell doom to your race more than I do. I am perfection. You, on the other hand, are too unnatural. Come to think of it, you are more of a freak than I am."

Khan pressed the trigger.

Bones swiftly dodged it this time then delivered a hard punch towards Khan's face, yanked the phaser out of Khan's hands, and turned it against Khan. He fired upon the augment multiple times and each time he missed. He chased after the man. Eventually the phaser went out of power for the immortal man. He dropped the empty machine hearing it tumble down and down and down. The heat against the metal would be life threatening for a mortal. Immortals like Bones could regenerate skin quickly. He had to beam himself back down to the planet surface out of the way.

Bones found a computer system.

"Location of Transporter room." Bones said.

"The transporter room has been destroyed due to the attacks launched in the cargo bay--" Bones punched a hole into the screen.

Damn it.

"I got you, this time, Reaper." Khan's voice came from behind Bones.

Bones felt a strong sizzling pain in his back that was heated and painful. He fell to the ground. He had no idea how many times Khan shot him. But when he finally became unconscious: the pain did not matter. Pain meant one thing to him and that was mortality. Pain had become a irrelevant subject for himself after becoming immortal. He used to be in the RRTS for twenty-three years with a new group until it became obvious that he could not continue this work after one mission a member pointed out he should have been hurt and they saw him be hurt. He managed to find a look alike and fake his death. That was when he took the alias Robert James William.